Why the VSA is Important
AASCU President Muriel Howard cites several reasons why the Voluntary System of Accountability is of value to members in a new post on the VSA Voice blog. Read Post at vsavoice.blogspot.com/

Register Now for Summer Council of Presidents
The 2013 Summer Council will address “Harnessing the Winds of Change,” providing presidents and chancellors the opportunity to explore how to take charge of institutional destiny in an era of rapid change. The meeting is scheduled for July 13-16 in Annapolis, Maryland. For information and registration visit aascu.org/meetings/summercouncil13

New First Generation Voices
Read interesting stories from these three students on their experiences as the first in their family to go to college. Read more at aascu.org/members/first-generation-voices/featured-students/

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Alcorn State University (Miss.)
Home Depot announced that Alcorn State University is the only HBCU winner in Mississippi of one of its 12 Tier II $10,000 grants. The Home Depot Retool Your School Grant Program awards grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities to help restore and improve their campuses. Read more

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

• Karl Kapp, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania professor of instructional technology, in partnership with Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, and the National Office of Project Lead the Way, was awarded a three-year, $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program. Read more
• A Mechanicsburg couple has given $1 million to the Bloomsburg University Foundation that makes it feasible to move forward with a four-story downtown office building with underground parking that will bear their name. Read more
• Bloomsburg University’s nursing program received a grant totaling more than $638,000 to educate nurse practitioners who can provide primary care and preventive services within a rural, 10-county region of Pennsylvania. Read more

CSU Monterey Bay
CSU Monterey Bay and Hartnell Community College have received a grant of $1.1 million to support their new three-year degree program in Computer Science and Information Technology. The grant is the result of a partnership among the National Science Foundation, Intel and General Electric. Read more

Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Millersville University received a $387,738 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study lake-effect snow events downwind of the Great Lakes. The corresponding field project—Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS)—is scheduled for December 2013 through January 2014. The OWLeS project is unique because it will involve approximately 35 undergraduate students from several institutions, including 12 from Millersville. Read more

Saginaw Valley State University (Mich.)
A mathematics professor and an international economist at Saginaw Valley State University have received the Braun Fellowship. Garry Johns, professor of mathematical sciences, and Hong Park, professor of economics, will each receive research support grants totaling up to $37,500 over the next three years to further their scholarly and professional activities. Read more

Salisbury University (Md.)
One of the Eastern Shore’s leading philanthropies, the Guerrieri Family Foundation, has announced an $8 million gift for the construction of a new Academic Commons, including a state-of-the-art library, at Salisbury University. The gift is made in memory of Patricia R. Guerrieri, an SU alumna for whom the new complex will be named. Read more

University of Central Florida
NASA has announced that a UCF scientist will receive awards for a total of $1.8 million to study health and performance factors that could help future space crews travel to the moon, Mars or asteroids. Read more

University of Houston-Victoria
Houston Endowment recently awarded an $800,000 grant to help fund a master’s-level family nurse practitioner program, scheduled to start this fall in UHV’s School of Nursing. Read more

Buffalo State College (N.Y.)
Buffalo State College has named the institution’s prestigious All College Honors program the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program to honor her more than 13 years of leadership at the college. Howard is president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Read more

California State University, Fullerton
The Mexican American Opportunity Foundation honored Cal State Fullerton President Mildred García with its Woman of the Year Award. She was among five "extraordinary women" selected to receive the award at the foundation's 35th National Latina Conference. Read more

California State University, Fullerton
Robert D. Kersey, professor of kinesiology and director of Cal State Fullerton’s Athletic Training Education Program, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association at the organization's 64th annual Meeting and Clinical Symposia in June. Read more

California State University, San Bernardino
Audrey Mathews, professor emerita at California State University, San Bernardino, received the Elmer B. Staats Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Public Service by the American Society for Public Administration. Read more

Northwest Missouri State University
Northwest Missouri State University, which continues to be a leader in energy conservation and using alternative fuels, has been recognized as one of the nation’s top energy-reducing schools based on results of the 2013 Campus Conservation Nationals. Read more

Pittsburg State University (Kan.)
Barry Wilson, chairman of the PSU Graphics and Imaging Technologies Department, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Jerry Watson Educator of the Year Award by the Printing and Imaging Association of MidAmerica. Read more

University of Houston-Downtown
The Office of Naval Research (ONR), an executive branch agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, recently awarded Trevor Hale, an associate professor of management at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD), with his third Summer Faculty Fellowship to research cybersecurity. Read more

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California State University, Los Angeles
Earning one of the highest distinctions within the forensic speech community, Cal State L.A.’s communication studies senior Holland Michelle Smith was recently named one of the 10 members of the All-American Team at the American Forensic Association’s (AFA) 36th National Individual Events Tournament. Read more

Dakota State University (S.D.)
This year’s Dakota State University Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) team came home with second place from the eighth annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC – www.nationalccdc.org). The Dakota State University team received first place in the North Central Region Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition held in Madison, S.D. which qualified them for the NCCDC event. Read more

Saginaw Valley State University (Mich.)
Saginaw Valley State University student Sarah Lewan has been selected to receive the Outstanding Community Impact Award from Michigan Campus Compact. Only six students from across the state received this prestigious award for service. Read more

Slippery Rock University (Pa.)
Tresa Maria Gnalian, a Slippery Rock University early childhood education major from Sewickley, and Katelyn Hill, an SRU early childhood education major from Stow, Ohio, have been named recipients of the first J. Tyler Stufflebeam Memorial Scholarship. Read more

West Chester University (Pa.)
West Chester University percussionist Ben Andrews is the winner of the U.S. Army Band’s 2013 National Collegiate Solo Competition. As such, he will perform in concert with the U.S. Army Band on the West Steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., the evenings of Thursday, June 20, and Friday, June 21. Read more

Western Illinois University
Preschoolers from the Western Illinois University Infant and Preschool Center played in the dirt alongside students from a cultural anthropology honors class. The students are all part of an effort to create a more sustainable campus and are part of a larger program to create a garden space. Read more

West Texas A&M University
It may not be the destination of choice for many travelers, but a West Texas A&M University faculty member and alumna are eagerly counting the days until their departure to southern Siberia as participants in a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program. Read more

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